When God Cries and Blushes – Damodarastaka

This is my rendition of an ancient Sanskrit song composed by Sage Satyavrata when speaking with the Sages Narada and Shaunaka, as recorded in the Padma Purana.

(1)
Let me focus on the Supreme Being
Manifest adorably in the intimate, loving setting of pastoral Gokula
Eternity, awareness, and ecstasy compose his lovely form

His earrings sway
As he fearfully descends from a big spice mortar
And runs away from his mother, Yashoda
Who eventually catches him from behind!

(2)
Crying
His hands, two lotus flowers
Rubbing the tears from two lotus eyes
Blossoming wide in childlike fear!

Sobbing now,
The pearl necklace he wears is shaking
And the three wonderful lines on his neck quiver

She puts a rope around his waist
The Supreme Being…
Tied up and bound by the power of love!

(3)
Seeing this
Everyone in Gokula
Dips into a blissful pool of ecstasy

And those outside Gokula
Who think of the Supreme Being as some powerful commander
Are shaken by the power of sweet divine love!

Let me sing about him
Voice full of such love
Hundreds and hundreds of times!

(4)
God can grant any wish, even liberation.
But I do not seek liberation!
Nor anything higher than liberation!
Nor anything lower!

All I want is that you will forever manifest in my heart
A vision of your wondrously divine form
As a simple cowherd boy
In that sweet land of Gokula.

(5)
I want to always see your face,
So beautiful like a lotus flower
Encircled with the blackest hair, glossy and curling so softly.

I want to see your blushing face
Filled with kiss marks
As your mother kisses you again and again
With her lips as red as pomegranates!

If this vision should come to my heart for even a second
Millions of other wishes would become instantly worthless!

(6)
Let me bow to you,
You are God
Bigger than the universe
But you let a rope bind you around your infinite stomach
Out your kind desire to return the love of your devotee

You are so kind, be pleased with me, please!
I am sinking in an ocean of grief, while tied by a net of misery
Show your merciful glance
To me, who have sunk so low.

You can accept anyone you choose,
So please accept me, though I have no worth!
Please, out of compassion, come before my very eyes now!

(7)
I remember
You did something similar
For the two sons of Kuvera
When they had fallen to the lowly form of trees.

You liberated them
And filled them with devotion and love.

I too want that!
Not liberation or anything else,
But to be filled with this sweet divine love for you

(8)
I adore you
I adore the effulgent rope around your waist
I adore the effulgent place this happened, Gokula
I adore your beautiful waist, the shelter of the of the universe itself
I adore your most beloved Sri Radhika
I adore your unlimited pastimes
And I adore you
Whose sweetness is beyond all power and greatness!